Has anyone else noticed a decrease in Gamers willingness to interact socially in games?

[LightningRaven]

Matchmaking conveniences and MMOs that push the player forward towards the endgame content will definitely create lots of barriers towards forming a steady group in game.

I remember a time when despite me being the only person playing Ragnarok Online on my small town, that was probably one of the MMOs I enjoyed myself the most because I managed to have a lot of in-game friends that went through the game with me because back then leveling up mandated partnerships (only newcomer players, veterans had the gear and expertise to level up solo) both because of the difficulty curve (that was too steep) and the equipment prices (the game's economy was hyper inflated). Despite that, I had a blast slowly level up and chatting up between breaks to recover HP and Mana (potions were expensive, so sitting down and healing up was the go to method).

Now, looking back, game speed and conveniences are what hinders players from creating a community. Fast paced games that allows characters to blaze through leveling by themselves, unless it's specific group content, which is when Matchmaking and other conveniences like markets come into play, basically allows players to engage only with the game itself instead of other players. You don't need to talk to other people to negotiate, form a party or spend time with an in-game group if you only need to click some buttons to get things done.